In November 2014, Jason Phillips, a fitness and nutrition trainer, was so broke that he couldn’t afford a cup of coffee. One year later, he banked a million dollars, and after 10 years, he founded Nutritional Coaching Institute and scaled it to a reported $15 million valuation. These days, he’s embarking on a new venture that promises even greater success.
Phillips is guided by an almost instinctual level of business acumen, enhanced and fueled by his relentless drive for happiness, profitability and desire to help others. And his story is rooted in the most unlikely of circumstances—a battle with anorexia.
Whole body health
The journey to well-being is anything but linear. For roughly 30 million Americans, that path can include an eating disorder detour, according to the National Eating Disorders Association. And Phillips was among them.
“I was a typical all-American, healthy kid. Then I developed an eating disorder and became fully anorexic,” Phillips recounts. “When I overcame that, I discovered that health and wellness saved my life, and I wanted to use that vehicle to pay it forward to help others.”
After graduating from Florida State University with a degree in exercise science and a concentration in fitness and nutrition, Phillips bounced from gig to gig. It wasn’t until that fateful November in 2014, when he was faced with his grim financial reality, that he recognized a crossroads—either get a conventional job or leverage his knowledge and passion to move forward.
Providence came that same week in the form of his first consultation call from a national championship weight lifter. After listening to her story, Phillips’ desire to help overrode his need for money.
“When it got time to pitch the price,” Phillips says, “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, what if she says no? That’s not OK. She really needs my help.’ I was like, ‘You can’t pay me.’ Over the next week, she referred me to 12 people who did pay.”
Those 12 new clients sparked his coaching company, IN3. Named for nutrition in performance, aesthetics and life, IN3 quickly ramped up to help 3,000 people each year. Then in 2016, a friend challenged him to scale. If Phillips could shift to a business-to-business model through certifications, he could reach millions more.
Inspiration hit during a six-hour car ride. “I’ve never had more clarity in my life,” Phillips says. “I pulled into the driveway and didn’t even get the bags out of my car. I ran into my office, sat down and wrote the whole outline. And to this day, [in] 2025, it hasn’t changed.”
Round two
That outline sat in his notebook until April 2017. Phillips was home sick one day when, on a whim, he made a social media post floating the certification class before taking a nap. He woke up to 200 replies.
Phillips then sprang into action, booking a friend’s facility in Chicago to host the class. Four hours after posting the $1,000 payment link, all 40 spots were filled. Phillips organized two more dates and locations after that, and by the end of the next day, all seats were sold.
“We delivered the first-ever certification and never looked back,” he says.
During those early years, Phillips was juggling IN3 and NCI. Sensing that his brand identity was getting confused, he decided to sell IN3 even though it subsidized NCI’s payroll. The decision put him back into a financial conundrum.
“I was probably going to miss payroll by $70,000,” Phillips confesses.
In a stroke of genius, he developed a “rapid cash scholarship framework” and facilitated an injection of capital by opening applications to a full-ride scholarship to NCI’s program. One person earned the scholarship, and other applicants were offered an irresistible rate, thus generating a massive cash influx. The strategy proved so successful that other online businesses adopted it too.
“It’s a double-edged sword,” Phillips warns. “You get a lot of money, but it takes the warmest leads out of your funnel. There’s definitely some nuance to it.”
Despite NCI’s rampant financial success, by 2023, Phillips decided to sell it too. Burnout played a role, but he also no longer felt aligned with the direction of the industry. He needed some space.
A little over a year later, though, Phillips bought NCI back.
Full circle
Selling a company to purchase it back may sound like an odd way to go all-in on profits and happiness, but Phillips’ internal compass always pointed to what felt morally right.
“I sold a company that was connection-driven, and they tried to turn it into an e-commerce company,” Phillips says. “It was never going to work as an e-comm company, and so we’re bringing connection back.”
Phillips, however, remembers why he sold in the first place. For this iteration of NCI, he is completely reimagining the certification model. Access to NCI’s material is now free, and instead of paying for information, clients can purchase a mentorship that supports their business development, execution and success. NCI, according to Phillips, is rolling out the red carpet.
The annual fee provides access to all of NCI’s resources, including specialty topic calls, business development calls and 24/7 support. A monthly membership fee lets clients stay at NCI’s home base, where they can film content in a studio and host events.
“NCI was always formed on the ‘billion-person mission,’” Phillips says. “We want to change a billion lives through the vehicle of health and fitness.”
Success and wisdom
Phillips is improving lives at scale. At a personal level, he’s identified four integrated dimensions of success: physical development, personal development, connection to loved ones, and business. Underpinning all of these is the idea of personal control.
At one point, Phillips found himself in a scary situation on an airplane. His inability to change the outcome came into sharp focus—and after a safe emergency landing, Phillips left the experience with a searing impression.
“I will never take control for granted in my life,” he says. “I am in control of how I move my body, what I feed my body, what I feed my mind, the connection I have with my daughter and the direction of my business. I promise anything that you’re envisioning, it can be done as long as you take charge and take control.”
This article originally appeared in the July/August issue of SUCCESS® magazine.
Photo courtesy of Jason Phillips
